Keeping include files outside of the we tree

[Grakkam]

(EDIT: DOH! The title should say "web tree", not "we tree". Stupid keyboard... :) )

 

Let's say my osC installation resides in

/username/public_html/onlinestore/

 

what if all include files were stored in something like

/username/osc_include/

I imagine this would add another layer of security by having fewer directories and files publicly available in the web tree.

 

Am I right in this? Or would it not make a difference?

[Guest]

Stig,

 

Generally, directories outside of the /public_html directory are not accessible to website applications. Further, if your store is set up properly and secured properly, you don't need to change the directory structure at all.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Grakkam]

Generally, directories outside of the /public_html directory are not accessible to website applications.

I'm working on another application where I keep all the include files above /public_html/ and I have no problems reading the files from the application at all. May be different on different servers, I guess.

[MrPhil]

Generally, directories outside of the /public_html directory are not accessible to website applications.

Only partially true. HTML cannot access anything above the site root (what HTML calls "/"), but PHP can go anywhere, even other people's sites on the same server (unless blocked by adequate permissions).

 

As for the original question, I can't see that it would be any practical improvement to move PHP include files outside of the HTML tree. Keep in mind that such files cannot be directly read from a browser in any case (they are interpreted when invoked), so it would require planting another piece of code to include the file in question and display the variables it set.